Kendrick Watson
Introduction
Kendrick Watson, 41, of Stow, Ohio, is a six-year Circle K night-shift clerk who was fired after firing seven shots at four masked would-be robbers who rammed a stolen minivan into the store where he worked around 3:30 a.m. on November 2, 2026. Stow police said Watson would not face criminal charges, and the city’s law department confirmed to 3News that he will not be charged, with his gun returned to him on the view that he acted within Ohio’s Stand Your Ground right of self-defense. His employer nonetheless took him off the schedule, telling him not to return under its no-weapons policy.
Background Information
Watson worked the night shift at the Circle K on East Steels Corners Road in Stow β at 750 Steels Corner Road, per the Akron Beacon Journal β for six years, putting in more than 40 hours a week and, by his own account, once working 33 days straight. “I’ve tried to be the best employee I could be,” he told the Beacon Journal, adding that in six years on nights he had “never had an argument or anything like that” at the store. The robbery attempt that ended his employment began when suspects arrived in two minivans reported stolen from Cleveland.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Fired under the no-weapons policy after firing on robbers β no charges filed. Kendrick Watson, a six-year Circle K clerk, shot seven times at masked robbers who rammed a stolen minivan into his Stow, Ohio store; police and the city law department said he will not be charged, citing Ohio’s Stand Your Ground law, but Circle K terminated him under its no-weapons policy.
Per Stow police, one of the stolen minivans repeatedly rammed into the front of the store, shattering the glass entrance and dislodging the ATM inside, while Watson sat behind the register around 3:30 a.m. on November 2. He told the Beacon Journal he heard glass breaking and first thought a drunk person had caused it; after a second impact he became alarmed. A second minivan then pulled up, and four masked men jumped out and rushed toward the store. “I didn’t feel like my life was in danger until I saw them rushing the store,” Watson said. He grabbed his gun and fired seven shots, and the crew fled before making it inside.
The gunfire struck one of the getaway minivans, a gas pump and a support post beneath the station’s canopy, according to police, who said they did not know whether any of the suspects had been injured. “Once they rushed the store, I thought my life and my coworker’s life at the time was in danger, so I opened fire to protect myself and my coworker,” Watson told 3News. “You just never know what can happen… I was more shocked than terrified.” One of the four, Peirion D. Jackson, 25, of Cleveland β described by the Beacon Journal as associated with the Heartless Felons Gang β was arrested after fleeing on foot, charged with robbery, receiving stolen property and vandalism, and ordered held on $100,000 cash bond. At least three others escaped in a stolen brown 1997 Chrysler Town & Country minivan, last seen heading west on Steels Corners Road toward State Route 8.
Watson’s own employer fired him the same day: his manager called later that day and told him not to return. “I knew I was going to get fired because they have [a] no gun, no weapons policy, so I knew that was coming, but my only issue with that was, obviously, this was an extreme situation,” Watson said, noting the company took him off the schedule after six years and more than 40 hours a week. “Who knows what they could’ve done? So that’s why I did what I did: protect myself and my coworker.” Police took his firearm during the investigation but later returned it, having concluded under Ohio’s Stand Your Ground law β which allows force against someone unlawfully and forcefully entering a property β that he was within his right of self-defense.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The outcome split along institutional lines: the police and the city cleared him, while his employer separated from him. Stow police Capt. Bryan Snavely confirmed Watson would not be charged, and Watson said officers “were very nice, respectful and did their job. They understood the situation.” Circle K, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, declined to engage β a person answering the phone at headquarters said no one was available to comment, and 3News reported the company had not responded to its request by publication. Watson, for his part, said his reaction to the firing “was just disappointment, really,” pointing to his record of working 33 days straight when needed.
Watson launched a GoFundMe to cover bills and expenses while he looks for another job, writing on the crowdfunding page, “It was a traumatic experience.” The firing has been covered as a test case of employer no-weapons policies colliding with stand-your-ground self-defense: a clerk cleared of any crime for shooting at robbers, and fired for it all the same.
Current Status
Watson is not facing criminal charges β a status confirmed both by Stow police and by the city’s law department β and his returned firearm means no legal action of any kind is pending against him. He remains dismissed from the Circle K job he held for six years, is searching for work, and is raising living expenses through GoFundMe in the interim. The criminal case in the incident now belongs solely to the robbers: Jackson is held at the Summit County Jail on his charges, while at least three suspects and the brown getaway minivan (Ohio plate GSR7033) remain at large, with Stow police asking tips at 330-689-5700.
This page documents an employment termination, not a criminal conviction: Watson has not been charged with or convicted of any offense arising from the shooting, and the account above rests on police statements and his own interview remarks.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The firing erased a six-year, 40-hour-plus-a-week job in a single phone call, and Watson’s account of it β “I knew I was going to get fired… but my only issue with that was, obviously, this was an extreme situation” β frames the tension his case now poses for retail employers: a policy that forbids weapons on the premises, applied to a clerk whom the state declines to punish for using one in an armed robbery attempt. Whether the publicity around his firing helps or hinders his job search is unknown; what is documented is a 41-year-old clerk crowdfunding his bills while the robbers who rammed his store face the only charges the incident produced.
Sources
- “Ohio Circle K worker Kendrick Watson fired after shooting at masked robbers who rammed minivan into gas station” source
- “Stow Circle K worker who shot at robbers seeks support after firing” source
- “Former Stow Circle K employee says he was fired after shooting gun at robbery suspects: ‘I opened fire to protect myself and my coworker’” source